Of Misunderstandings and New Beginnings
by honestlydarkprincess
Summary: All Clarke wants after a hellish week is to go to her favourite coffee shop, sit at her favourite table, and get some sketching done. Unfortunately, someone's already sitting there and it doesn't seem like he's willing to give up his seat next to the power outlet. - Modern AU. Full Summary Inside.


_Full Summary: All Clarke wants after a hellish week is to go to her favourite coffee shop, sit at her favourite table, and get some sketching done. Unfortunately, someone's already sitting there and it doesn't seem like he's willing to give up his seat next to the power outlet. But the guy is stupidly attractive with his thick glasses and irritated scowl, and Clarke's so exhausted that she's willing to share if it means she gets to sketch for a few hours._

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 **Hey!**

 **So, I discovered Bellarke and I'm obsessed. I fucking love this pairing- especially in Modern AU's, so I decided to give it a try! I'm having some writer's block with my other fics, at this point I think writer's block is going to be a permanent fixture in my life in some way or another, but I've been reading like a shit load of The 100 fanfiction for the last month or so, and I love the characters so I finally got enough inspiration to actually finish a fic!**

 **I would like to mention, however, that I do not watch the show. Everything I know about these characters has come from copious amounts of fanfiction, Tumblr, and watching only a few scenes from the show. So, if the way I've portrayed the characters in this fic isn't how you picture them- it's because this is just my interpretation of their characterizations and they are the way they are to fit this fic.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

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Clarke was exhausted. It had been a hectic week at the hospital and this was her first day off in what felt like forever. All she wanted to do was grab a coffee at her favourite coffee shop, The Dropship, sit at her favourite table, and sketch for a few hours. And, if Monty was working today and finished his shift before she left, then maybe they could grab dinner.

She got to the coffee shop and said hi to Monty, giving him a smile and a wink when she noticed that Miller was also working today. Monty blushed before giving her her coffee and shooing her away. Clarke laughed and turned around to go sit down at her favourite table but stopped short when she saw that there was someone already sitting there.

There was a man who looked to be about a few years older than her, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties, with dark hair and dark skin. He had broad shoulders and arms that Clarke may have spent a few dazed seconds staring at, and he was hunched over a laptop, typing furiously. Clarke guessed that he was a student, what with all the textbooks that were splayed around him on the table.

Clarke took a deep breath and psyched herself up to go over there and ask him if they could share the table. She wasn't usually nervous around attractive strangers, or strangers in general, but there was something about him that made her feel nervous and shy.

"That's Nate's best friend."

Clarke jumped slightly at the sound of Monty's voice behind her. She turned around and raised her eyebrow at him, "Nate?" She grinned.

"Shut up," Monty flushed, ignoring Clarke's teasing grin. He refused to listen to Clarke when she said it meant something that Miller let Monty call him Nate when everyone else had to call him Miller. "Anyway, Bellamy's kind of an asshole but Nate swears he's a good guy."

"Huh," Clarke murmured, her attention already focused back on the man, _Bellamy_.

Monty chuckled but Clarke just ignored him, taking one more breath before making her way over to Bellamy. She came and stood in front of him, casting a shadow over where he was working. She hesitated for a second, waiting for him to notice her, but he just continued typing.

Clarke cleared her throat, "Excuse me?"

The man looked up, giving her a flash of beautiful, dark brown eyes, but grumbling out, "Nope, sorry, princess. I'm using the power outlet. You're going to have to wait."

Clarke stood there shocked and indignant. "That's not-"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence because Bellamy cut her off with a harsh glare before he went back to typing, only pausing to pointedly put in his earbuds.

Clarke huffed and decided to just wait him out. At the speed he was typing, there was no way he was going to be there all that much longer unless he was working on a very long paper.

But as a half hour went by and the man showed no signs of slowing down with his work, Clarke decided to try again. She wasn't getting any work done on her sketches because the lighting just wasn't the same at the table she'd been forced to retreat to. Clarke collected her pencils and her sketchbook before putting her game face on and marching over to her favourite table.

The man looked up as she approached, glare settling into place and Clarke had to ignore the way his thick, black glasses slid down his nose slightly because it was unfairly attractive.

"Look, I'm not going to fight you for your precious fucking outlet. But I've had a brutal week and I've earned some sketch time. This table has the best natural light for sketching so can I please just sit here? I won't bother you, I promise," Clarke huffed out, embarrassed by the slight pleading in her voice. She really needed this, needed this art time, because things had been so hectic at work lately and she desperately needed to relax.

"Fuck," The guy mumbled, sitting up straight and starting to gather his textbooks and papers. "I'm sorry, I thought you needed the outlet and I really need to get this essay done. My roommate locked me out of our apartment and I needed to charge my laptop."

Clarke calmed down as she took in the genuinely guilty and embarrassed look on his beautiful face. She hadn't been that upset at him personally, more so upset at the chance she might not be able to get any sketching done. She remembered the days of med school very clearly, having only graduated a few years ago, and knew the fierce protectiveness you'd feel when you found a good study spot or a coveted spot with an outlet and someone was trying to take it from you.

Clarke takes a seat across from the gorgeous man and placed her sketchbook in the recently cleared space on the table. As she got out her pencils she said, "I'm Clarke, by the way."

The guy gave her a shy smile, "Bellamy."

Clarke grinned brightly at him and even though she already knew his name, she liked hearing it from him.

"Nice to meet you, Bellamy," She said, rolling the name around on her tongue and deciding that she liked it.

Bellamy just gave her an awkward smile and went back to typing on his laptop. This time, however, Clarke wasn't offended, she just looked down at her sketchbook and started drawing.

About an hour or so went by in companionable silence and Clarke was kind of shocked. Usually, when she's around people she's just met, she feels the need to fill the silence with small talk- something she's arguably terrible at. Whenever she meets someone that she feels comfortable enough with to just sit in silence, talking when necessary but otherwise just doing their own thing, she tries to keep that relationship. Hopefully, she and Bellamy could be friends, even though she'd jump at the chance to go on a date with him. She just really liked his quiet, serious energy. Not to mention, his nerdy glasses.

Clarke is pulled out of her thoughts when Bellamy's phone goes off with a loud ding. He gives her an apologetic look and unlocks his phone. Clarke just smiles softly and looks down at what she was drawing, a bit shocked when she realizes that she had been drawing him. She flips to the next page before he can see her sketch of him. The last thing she wants is for him to think she's creepy.

Clarke gives him a curious and concerned look when he huffs out a sharp breath; she watches as he finishes reading the text and his shoulders sag, face dropping in disappointment. She hesitates but ultimately can't stop herself from quietly asking, "Is everything alright?"

Bellamy smiles, and even though Clarke just met the man, she can tell it's forced. "Yeah. My, uh, my girlfriend just broke up with me."

Clarke raised her eyebrow. "Over text? Damn, that's cold."

Bellamy shrugged but Clarke can easily read the insecurity and hurt in his eyes.

"I know I'm just some random stranger but I've been told I'm a pretty good listener, if you feel like talking about it," She offers, making eye contact with him and letting her words hang between them for a few seconds so he knows she's serious, before she breaks the eye contact and starts a new drawing. If she's guessing correctly, Bellamy will talk when he's ready and only when he's ready.

She's only sketching for a few minutes before he starts talking softly and she keeps her eyes on her drawing, letting him know he can talk without pressure.

"Apparently I don't take her out enough or out to expensive enough places so it's not worth putting up with my boring and nerdy self. She says she's tired of staying in on a Friday night and watching documentaries or movies with me because I talk too much and nobody actually cares if the films are historically accurate," Bellamy says with forced casualness. By the time he's finished talking, Clarke is looking at him with her lips parted in shock, drawing forgotten for the moment.

"What the fuck," Is what Clarke comes up with as a reply. "Okay, first of all, staying in on a Friday night rules. Who the hell wants to get dressed up and go out when you can spend your night cuddling with someone and watching Netflix? Because, honestly, the former requires effort that I just don't have on a weekly basis. Second, who doesn't love commentary while watching a movie? I mean, I know all of my friends get annoyed with me because I also talk way too much during a movie but still!"

As Clarke ends her mini-rant with a huff she realizes that Bellamy is grinning and her face breaks out in a smile, "What?"

"Nothing, just, you're cute when you're angry," Bellamy replies, still grinning.

Clarke feels her face heat up but snorts, "Oh, honey, that's just me a little worked up. I've been told I'm a nightmare when I'm actually really angry, there's nothing cute about it."

"Guess I'll just have to stick around to see it for myself," Bellamy replies casually, looking at her with a teasing glint in his eye that she really, really liked.

"I guess you will," Clarke says, grinning back.

Bellamy's still smiling when he looks back down at his laptop. Clarke feels pleased because at least now he looks brighter than he did when he received the text message and she returns to her sketch with a happy, warm feeling in her chest.

They work in silence again for a few more minutes before Bellamy sighs, saves his work, and closes his laptop. Clarke watches as he takes a swig of his coffee and his face scrunches up cutely because the coffee is now stone cold.

"I'm going to go get some more coffee, do you want something?" Bellamy asks, standing up from the table and stretching, groaning because his back was stiff from sitting hunched over his laptop for so long.

"Uh, yeah, a caramel latte would be great," Clarke replied, reaching into her purse for her wallet.

But Bellamy just waved her off, "Don't worry about it, I got it."

"Thanks," Clarke says, beaming.

She keeps her eyes on him as he walks up to the counter and orders their drinks. This time it's Miller working the till and Clarke watches as Miller says something that makes Bellamy blush and duck his head. Clarke averts her eyes, grinning, and looks to Monty, who's already looking at her and wiggles his eyebrows when they make eye contact. Now it's Clarke who blushes and ducks her head. She pretends to concentrate on her sketch but is really just trying to strain her ears to see if she can hear what Miller is saying to Bellamy.

But as far as she can tell, they're just talking about inane stuff. Clarke won't admit it but she pouts a little, she was hoping to hear Bellamy say something to Miller that would indicate whether or not he's interested in her. She's very interested in him but she's not sure if she's reading the vibe between them right. Especially given that he just broke up with his girlfriend. To be fair, he didn't seem all that upset about the actual breakup, just hurt by the words she had used.

Clarke was drawn from her thoughts by the sound of a coffee cup being placed in front of her and she looked up to see Bellamy smiling warmly at her over the rim of his own cup. Ugh, she could get used to those smiles.

Clarke took a sip of her drink and hummed pleased, it was exactly how she liked it. Her brows drew together in confusion as she realized something. "Does this have soy milk?"

"Uh, yeah," Bellamy said, his hand coming up to rub at his neck in a nervous gesture and Clarke could clearly see the flush high on his cheeks. "It says soy milk on the cup you were drinking before so I figured…sorry is that just really creepy?"

Clarke blushed, pleased and touched that he had asked for soy milk for her instead of regular because he saw it on her previous cup. If it were anyone else, that would have freaked her out but for some reason when it was Bellamy, it was just a sweet gesture. "No, actually that's adorable and very sweet, thank you."

Bellamy's own blush darkened and Clarke could see the tips of his ears turning pink. She grinned at him as he shyly mumbled out a, "It's no problem."

Bellamy fiddled with the rim of his to-go cup, clearly, he wanted to say something but he either didn't know what to say or he was too nervous to say what he wanted to say. So Clarke decided to take the first step. She got the impression that while Bellamy could put up a suave front, he was really awkward and shy. Which, apparently is totally her type.

"So, what were you working on before?" Clarke asked, guessing that that was a safe topic to start with. She put her pencil aside and leaned back, giving him her full attention.

"Oh, that," Bellamy started, somewhat surprised that she had actually asked. He eyed her warily because usually when he started talking about his doctoral dissertation people got this blank look in their eyes and almost always tried to change the subject after he'd talked for a few minutes. But Clarke was looking at him with this open, honest curiosity that made him want to tell her about his work. He just hoped that she actually wanted to hear about it. "I was working on an essay for my dissertation. I'm trying to get a PhD in Classics."

"Oh, wow," Clarke said, leaning forward in interest. "That's impressive. What's your thesis about?"

Bellamy hesitated again, but only for a moment before diving into an explanation of his dissertation. And Clarke didn't just listen, she asked questions and actually looked interested in his opinions and theories and it was such a new feeling, it was amazing. He had met so few people around his age that actually cared about his work enough to listen and ask questions, even other people who were working towards their own PhD.

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Clarke and Bellamy were lost in conversation with each other when Monty walked up, reluctantly tapping Clarke on the shoulder. The touch startled her out of their conversation about Greek mythology- Bellamy had grinned brightly when Clarke had told him her last name was Griffin- and as she checked her phone for the time, she realized that she and Bellamy had been talking for over two hours.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," Monty said giving them a knowing look and grinning when they blushed. "But my shift is over and you said you wanted to grab dinner, Clarke?"

"Oh, yeah, I completely forgot," Clarke admitted sheepishly. "Sorry, Monty!"

Monty chuckled as Clarke gathered her stuff and tried to ignore the darkening blush on her cheeks.

As Clarke finished packing up her stuff, she paused for a moment, staring at Bellamy for a second, before flipping open her sketchbook to an old sketch she had done. Carefully, she tore the page out and scribbled a note on the back. She swung her purse onto her shoulder and handed the page over to Bellamy.

He accepted it with a shocked, curious look and Clarke didn't hesitate this time, swiftly pressing her lips to his cheek before pulling back- leaving her with the phantom sensation of Bellamy's rough stubble scratching her sensitive lips in a way that shouldn't have felt as good as it did.

Giving him one last smile, Clarke linked arms with Monty and walked out of the coffee shop with him, only pausing once to look back at Bellamy- who was still staring after her, dazed, with his fingers pressed to his cheek where she had kissed him.

After Clarke was out of sight, Bellamy registered the fact that Miller had slipped into the now vacant seat in front of him and was smirking smugly.

"Shut up," Bellamy huffed before Miller could say anything, which only made the boy look even smugger. "Like you can talk, you're pathetically into Monty. Why don't you just ask him out already?"

Miller's smug smirk falls and he glares at Bellamy, although Bellamy knows that Miller isn't actually mad at him. "You know why, Blake."

Bellamy sighed, "Look, Miller, this is coming from a person who is even more of a disaster than you are- and that's saying something- but please just ask Monty out. He's head over heels for you and even I can see that," Bellamy said softly, understanding his best friend's hesitance.

After he and Bryan had broken up, Miller hadn't been the same with dating. Before, he was smooth and confident, and now he was shy and insecure. Although, not many people realized that because his general surly-ness usually put people off before they got the chance to see the real Nathan Miller. But Bellamy could tell that Monty was a genuinely good person and if there was anyone Miller should go out with- it was him. They had lots in common and it was clear as day to everyone who interacted with the two that whatever feelings were there, they were mutual.

"Yeah, I think about it," Miller said gruffly, which, coming from him, was a huge start. "Anyway, what did blondie give you?"

"Clarke?" Bellamy asked, making Miller nod, even as he snorted at the slightly dreamy look that came over his best friend's features.

It was then that Bellamy remembered that he was holding the page from Clarke's sketchbook that she had given him. It was a beautiful sketch of a Griffin from Greek mythology and Bellamy felt his breath catch at both the sheer talent Clarke possessed and at the fact that she had given him this sketch- knowing that he would like it because he liked her last name and he liked mythology. Plus, he knew how big a deal it was for an artist to give someone a page from their sketchbook. Octavia's boyfriend, Lincoln, was also an artist and so Bellamy was well versed in how private sketchbooks were.

"Didn't she also write something on the back?" Miller asked curiously, unknowingly shaking Bellamy from his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah," Bellamy mumbled, turning the page over, and grinning brightly as he read the message she'd left him.

 _ **In case you ever feel like watching a documentary with someone who will listen and enjoy your commentary, give me a call ;)**_

Her name and number were written below the hastily written message and Bellamy felt a warm glow in his chest.

This felt like the start of something really, really good.

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 **I really hope you enjoyed the fic! Let me know what you think? :)**

 **Come visit my Tumblr, honestlydarkprincess, if you want to come and cry with me about Bellarke, Minty, Linctavia, etc. These pairings are ripping out my soul in the best possible way and I need someone to cry with.**

 **If you liked this fic, check out my collection of modern AU's! It's a compliation of fics just like this!**


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